Machine for straightening and truing wheels



' J. FRIED Nov. 4, 1941.

Filel June 5, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet l NOV. 4, 1941. J FRIED 2,261,246

MACHINE FOR STRAIGHTENING AND TRUING WHEELS Filed June 5, 1939 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Nov. 4, 1941 MACHINE FOR STRAIGHTENING ANDTRUING WHEELS John Fried, Peoria, 111.

2 Application June 5, 1939, Serial No. 277,370

3 Claims.

This "invention pertains to machines for straightening and truing metalautomobile wheels.

An object is to furnish a mechanism simple in construction andoperation, thoroughly efficient, and that can be made to perform serviceon a given piece of work in a comparatively short time as compared withknown devices.

Another object is to provide a mechanism that in one operation willquickly restore a badly deformed wheel and wheel-rim to approximatelynormal condition and in a succeeding operation complete the final truingof the whole.

Again, an object is to provide a machine upon which a deformed wheel maybe permanently mounted in one position during operation thereon andwhich by manipulation of the machine parts thereon may be restored torunning condition in a minimum of time.

Still another object is to provide a mechanism upon which a deformedwheel may be permanently mounted at and by its central portion duringcomplete straightening and truing operations and so held that upon beingreplaced on the vehicle will be wholly true.

That the invention may be thoroughly understood the appended drawingsare provided forming part hereof, wherein: I

Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of a machine illustrating theinvention;

Figure 2 is a plan of the same as produced on line 22 of Figure 1;

Figures 3 and 4 are respectively a side elevation, and a transversesection of a hook member shown in the previous figure;

Figures 5 and 6 are sectional views of a distributor valve shown in twodifferent positions;

Figure '7 is an enlarged elevation of a pump shown in Figure 1;

Figure 8 is an elevation of part of the machine shown in the earlierfigures illustrating one manner of operating upon a wheel, and

Figures 9 and 10 are views somewhat similar to Figure 8 showing anothermanner of operation.

In Figure 1, the character I designates in this instance a cylindererected on a suitable base 2, a series of arms 3 carried by saidcylinder supporting a table 4 having an opening 5 central thereof. Apiston 6 operateswithin the cylinder and is provided with any usualpacking 8 to preserve fluid tight action. One end of the cylinder isclosed by a cap 9 and a suitable packing at I9, while a packing islikewise provided at its other end at II, the said piston being adaptedto enter tends through the opening 5 of the table I and supports a plateI2 whose top surface is exactly parallel to the tables top, said platereceiving upon it the usual fiat center portion of the wheel A to beoperated upon.

The piston has a threaded bore I3 in its upper end to receive a capscrew I4 beneath whose head is a plate I5 which may clamp the wheel Abetween itself and said plate I2.

Means is provided. for moving the piston in either. direction. Whilesuch means may be of any form suitable to put forth great power, ahydraulic type is preferred. That is to say, at I6 is a tank for holdinga supply of oil. Said tank is connected through a pipe I! with adistributor-valve I8, Figures 5 and 6, the casing I8 of said valve beingconnected into a pipe I9 which is connected in the lower part of thecylinder I, or below the piston 6. Said casing I8 is also connected withthe upper end of the cylinder through a pipe 20, being also connected bya pipe 2| extending into the said tank I 6.

The pipe IT has therein two check valves 22 of well known type andconnected in said pipe between the valves is a pipe 23 extending from ahand pump '24 for example, Figure 7.

It is to be noted that by rotating the valve I8 the pipes I1 and I9 willbe placed in communication, Figure 5, as will the pipes 28 and 2|,whereas in Figure 6 the pipes I! and 28 will communicate as will thepipes I9 and 2|. By this type of connection the pump in action willwithdraw oil from the tank I6 through a check valve 22 and force it tothe lower part of the cylinder I through the pipe I9, the second checkvalve, of course, preventing return of oil toward said pump. The piston6 during this time will be raised and the oil above it will flow throughthe pipe 28, valve I8, and pipe 2| to the tank. On the other hand if thevalve I8 has the position shown in Figure 6 the oil still drawn from thetank I6 will flow under pump pressure through pipes I1 and 28 to the topof the cylinder, the return of oil from the lower portion .of the latterto the tank through pipe I9 valve I8 and pipe 2 I.

It is seen that great operating pressure is at hand in operating uponwork requiring extreme pressure. In addition to the parts thus fardescribed a series of arms 25 are spaced around the outer edge of thetable 4, being pivoted thereto in substantially the manner and in theposition shown. The arms are provided each with a hooked free end 26extending in the direction of the center of the table. Their lower endsare thebase 2 as a guide therefor, and likewiseexpivoted'betweenbrackets 21 on bolts 28, for example, said bolts beingmuch smaller in diameter than the holes in the said brackets whereby thearms may freely abut the under side of the table so that heavy strainsmay be imposed on the arms without respect to said bolts. Preferably thearms snugly fit between their brackets so that friction will hold saidarms in any position placed.

The structure having been made known, the manner of straightening andtruing wheels by the same can now be described.

The all metal wheels as now generally used are distorted into all mannerof conditions as is known. However, due to the fact that the ,centralportion of the wheel is rigidly bolted to a hub or to a brake drum of avehicle such portion can be distorted but little, if any. This centralportion is that by which the wheel is carried by the machine herein, or,more specifically, by the plate I2 whose wheel receiving top surfaceparallels the top surface of the table 4.

As shown in the drawings the wheel-center is clamped between the saidplate I2 and plate l5 by the cap-screw [4 where it may be held securelyand permanently during all truing operations, it being clear that thewheel may be raised and lowered by any action given the piston 6 by thepump 24.

The wheel shown in Figure 1 is shown as brought to a quite true formafter operations thereon now to be made clear, while Figure 8illustrates a mounted wheel that has been con siderably distorted, theportion lowermost therein being in substantially its normal positionwith respect to the central portion thereof. When so mounted the hookedarms 25, in this particular instance, may be raised to the positionshown with their hooked ends 26 lying in such positions as to be in thepath of the extreme outer portion of the wheel-rim. It is noted that thewheel body and said wheel-rim in this instance are much twisted and thatopposite portions of the rim lie at different heights. Now by causingthe piston to be elevated, as here considered, the highest portion ofthe rim will first engage a hook or hooks, as the case may be, thecontinued piston-action finally carrying the lowest portion or portionsof the rim beneath the remaining hooks.

The arms 25 are, of course, of equal length between the table 4 and thehook ends 26 so that they lie in and define a plane paralleling thecenter portion of the wheel as it lies between the plates l2 and [5.Therefore when the said center portion has been raised to a positionwhere the rim lies as nearly as possible in one plane the wheel as awhole has been brought quite closely to normal form, or as shown in theother figures of the drawings.

Having thus operated upon the wheel the arms 25 may be swung out of theway beneath the table, for example. Following this the wheel is loweredby piston-action until its rim meets the table 4 at which time theoperator may observe at what point or points the said rim is out of trueor lies in spaced relation to the tables surface. Figures 9 and 10represent an exaggerated example, perhaps, of such a condition or wherethe operation previously described has provided the initialstraightening.

Having noted the high point of the rim with respect to the table thepiston is made to raise the plates l2, [5 to lift the rim from saidtable a sufficient distance to permit the insertion of a wedge B forexample, Figures 2 and 10, beneath the low side of the rim, theoperator'judging from experience the probable thickness of wedge to beinserted to bring about the desired truing, whereupon the plates [2, I5are lowered, the extreme power available then forcing the high pointtoward the table, or even upon it, to strain the wheel or its rim, orboth, to the position, finally, where the plane of rim rotation exactlyparallels the plane of rotation of the wheel's firmly clamped centerportion, this being determined from time to time after removal of thewedge.

It is observed that the wheel once mounted on the plate l2 need not beremoved during these operations and thus a saving of much time andunnecessary manipulations are avoided, the wheel being exactly truedbefore being removed in finished condition.

It is possible, also, to straighten the wheel by another method by themechanism illustrated. That is to say, the wheel shown deformed as inFigure 8 may be reversed in position with the high portion extendingtoward the table. In this placing of the wheel the descent of the pistonwill carry said high portion first upon the table followin by the otherparts of the rim, the whole then appearing again as in Figure 9, thealready described final truing of the rim being thus brought about.Either method is open for use though that first described may bepreferred as leading to more expeditious handling of the work. Or,again, the wheel as originally mounted between the plates l2, l5 may belowered by the piston upon the wedge B to bring about the final truing,or it may be raised to engage one or more of the hook-ends or abutmentsto the same end, depending upon the required direction of strain to beimposed, the amount of springing back of the work, in any event, beingnaturally considered in such operations by carrying the straining actionslightly beyond the judged true limit. In respect to the final truing ofthe rim it is understood that according to conditions existing duringoperations the wedge B is shifted to a variety of positions always at alow point so that a high point existing can be drawn down to finallyobtain the required truing, a hook-end or abutment answering also forsuch purpose.

Emphasis must be placed upon the fact that heretofore but one or twohook members or abutments have been used to bring about a finalalignment of a wheel-rim, such method requiring the rotation of thewheel by hand to bring a given rim-portion in position to be operatedupon. As distinguished therefrom the present apparatus employs aconsiderable number of fairly closely spaced abutments by the use ofwhich the entire rim is engaged at one operation (see Figure 8 of thedrawings) thereby more quickly bringing about the reforming of the wheelin the initial truing at all points. But a single operation is required,therefore, by this distinction, since no continued trials and lengthymanipulations are necessary for the final result, coupled with the factthat, as in the older methods no one region can be unduly strainedbeyond an ideal position which afterward must be operated upon in anopposite direction for correction purposes. Again, the series of arms 25since arranged entirely around the table 4 may receive such portions ofthe rim as may be required to be brought into shape all parts beingstrained alike in the single operation. And by means of the structureemployed the wheel may be clamped in position on the piston withoutrespect to which side is uppermost and may be either brought upon thearms 25 or upon the table 4 in the reforming act.

The downwardly extending hooks 26 are so presented to the work that theyabut upon a firm practically distortionless part of the rim inward fromthe easily bent rim-edge. The latter, therefore, cannot be damaged orcaused to lose its proper smooth appearance.

As has been intimated, the central mounting of the wheel upon a supportsuch as the plate l2 whose working surface parallels the table top makesfor exact truing Where the wheel-rim is made to exactly abut the latterin the final operations herein set forth.

In one or more of the claims the term abutment will be used in referringto the hook-carrying arms 25 in the interest of brevity. Naturally, ofcourse, an abutment serving the purpose of said arms may be other than aseries of the latter.

It will be apparent that the overhanging extensions or hooked endportions 26 of the arms 25 present a series of work engaging pointswhich extend concentrically around the center line of the plate 12which, together with the plate l5, comprises the work holding means, andthat all of the work engaging points are not on one side of a line drawndiametrically through the center line of the work holding means, but theseries extends through an angle of greater than 180 concentricallyaround the center line of the work holding means. For example, as shownin Fig. 2, the arms 25 and their overhanging extensions 26 are spacedapart substantially equally circumferentially with respect to the centerpoint of the work holding means.

I claim:

1. A machine for straightening and truing deformed wheels comprising asupporting structure including a substantially circular table, aworkcarrying member at the center of said table and shiftable withrespect to said table in a direction at right angles tothe plane of saidtable, parts carried by the work-carrying member by which to clamp thecenter portion of a wheel to be operated upon, and a plurality ofsupported abutment means spaced from each other and positioned aroundsaid table and spaced from said table in and defining a planeparalleling the top of said table, each of said abutment means havingone end pivotally mounted beneath the lower face of said table foradjustment in a vertical plane extending radially with respect to saidwork-carrying member and the other end overhanging said table and pointsalong the circumference of a wheel rim on the side thereof in theclamped position of the wheel, the said plurality of abutment meansdefining a plane limiting the upward movement of said work-carryingmember and a wheel carried thereupon and receiving said side of thewheel rim in abutment thereagainst in the upward travel of saidwork-carrying member.

2. A machine for straightening and truing deformed wheels comprising abase, a column, a, table having a central opening located in concentricrelation to said column and supported in stationary concentric relationto the column by means extending outwardly from said column, arms atleast three in number equidistant from the center of said column andsecured at fixed points to said table and extending upwardly, anextension projecting from each arm laterall over said table andconstituting abutment means, the abutment means on said arms defining aplane parallel to the table, work carrying means arranged centrally ofsaid table, and power operated means for raising and lowering said workcarrying means to force the WOIk against either said abutment means orsaid table, said power operating means being supported by said columnand extending through the central opening in said table.

3. A machine for straightening and truing deformed wheels comprising abase, a column, a table having a central opening supported in stationaryconcentric relation to the column by 'means extending outwardly fromsaid column,

work carrying means arranged centrally of said table, a plurality ofarms secured to said table and extending upwardly, an extensionprojecting laterally from each arm and overhanging said table the undersurfaces of said overhanging extensions defining a plane parallel tosaid table and presenting a series of work engaging points which extendconcentrically around the center line of the work holding means throughan angle of greater than and power operated means supported by saidcolumn for causing relative movement between said work carrying meansand said table and arms to effect a forceful contact between the tableand the Work .or between the work and the under surfaces of theextensions on said arms.

' JOHN FRIED.

